| The capitalists and entrepreneurs who built the United States into one of the world's leading economies took full advantage of America's free enterprise culture to launch an industrial revolution of unprecedented scope. With few state or federal laws to hinder them, many used questionable tactics to drive out competitors and establish monopolies or near-monopolies in their respective industries. Along the way they cajoled, bribed, or blackmailed political leaders to facilitate their efforts.
To address such excesses, a diverse group of reformers set about trying to gain political power and public support. Progressivism, as historians have come to label this movement, found its support primarily in urban areas among the middle and upper-middle classes—business executives, professionals, teachers, and government workers. They promoted greater efficiency in the workplace and in government. Their fervent hope was to restore democratic control of the economic and political sectors.
There was no all-encompassing progressive organization, agenda, or motive. The movement cut across both political parties, appeared in every geographic region, and contained many conflicting elements. Some activists were spurred by strong religious convictions while others were animated by secular ideals. Some were earnest humanitarians and others were more concerned with issues of efficiency and productivity. Prominent men such as Robert La Follette, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson are most often associated with the Progressive movement, yet women were disproportionately involved in the array of "progressive" causes and issues.
While incredibly diverse in motivation and mission, Progressives tended to believe that government should take a more active role in promoting the general welfare. More specifically, this meant the passage of laws breaking up the huge trusts, regulating child and female labor, promoting better working conditions, and conserving the environment. In addition, Progressives supported voluntary associations such as settlement houses and other charitable organizations intended to help immigrants, the poor, and the disabled.
Progressivism changed the social and political landscape of American life by enlarging the sphere of government action. New laws, regulations, and attitudes resulted from the efforts of self-styled progressives to deal with many persistent social ills. The glaring failure of the Progressive movement was its unwillingness to address racial injustice. For the most part, progressivism was for whites only. African Americans in the South were increasingly victims of disfranchisement, Jim Crow laws, vigilante assaults, and poverty. The Progresives that faild America and the Progressvies that keep failing Trenton!!!! |
